IPNEWS: Deputy Speaker Thomas P. Fallah has urged the government to accept the acquittal of former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah and abandon any effort to retry him, describing the renewed legal maneuvering against the ex-official as a “distraction” the country should put behind it.
Speaking in an interview on Spoon Talk, hosted by Stanton Witherspoon, Fallah said the government should take the moral high ground and respect the court’s verdict rather than pursue a case it cannot substantiate.
“The court acquitted, we all saw it,” Fallah said. “You can’t continue to dwell on something that you know very well you cannot substantiate as a government.”
The case has been clouded by allegations of jury tampering, with claims emerging after the verdict that one of the jurors (the forelady) had been involved with the Solicitor General, and that a cell phone had been improperly present during the jury’s deliberations.
Witherspoon pressed the Deputy Speaker on whether the government’s move to revisit the matter days after Tweah walked free amounted to a lack of sincerity.
Fallah was unequivocal that the renewed push was a diversion. “I do believe personally it’s a distraction,” he said. “The moment the court came down with that verdict, that would have closed it.”
The Deputy Speaker repeatedly framed his appeal around respect for the rule of law and the finality of the court’s decision. “The juror took their decision, the court took a decision, and they gave a non-guilty verdict. So why should we continue to haul on this? I would think we should let it go,” he said.
While acknowledging the toll the proceedings had taken on Tweah’s family and personal life, Fallah appealed for calm and national unity, casting the matter as one of conscience. “All of us has been accused, every one of us,” he said, encouraging Liberians to follow the process and respect the jurisdiction of the courts.
